Arch support



May 11, 1943. w. M. SCHOLL 2,319,160

ARCH SUPPORT Filed April 11, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 1943- w. M. SCHOLL 2,319,160

ARCH SUPPORT Filed April 11. 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZIZVEIZ ZUT" Patented May 11, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE anon surroa'r WilliamM; Soholl, Chicago, I'll. Application April 11, 1e50, Serial No. 329,015 3 Claims. (01. 36-71) v This invention relates to improvements in arch supports of the character commonly disposed within an article of footwear beneath the plantar surface of the human foot, the invention being highly desirable for use in connection with the restoration of a weakened or fallen longitudinal arch, although the device will have other uses and purposes as will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

In the past, many and various designs of arch supports for disposition beneath the plantar surhappened thatva patient desiring an arch supsupporting member and give anadded lift to the metatarsal arch by the same featureiof construction.

A further feature of this invention resides; in the provision of an arch support designed to lend I support to the longitudinal arch of the foot, and

at the same time provide an additional resilient support to the os calcis and cuboid bone. Also a feature of this invention resides in the provision'of an arch support embodying a plurality of metallic spring members for disposition beneath the longitudinal arch of the foot, the spring members being covered by flexible smooth covering,

and the support being designed with connections between the members and the cover so arranged as to permit ample flexibility for the entire support, and between the respective parts.

Still a further feature of the invention resides in the provision of an archsupport-arranged to not only support the longitudinal and metatarsal arches of the foot, but also to properly balance the foot and provide a resilient support to the port for aid to rehabilitation of the longitudinal I inner arch of the foot was also suifering from a defect in the outer longitudinal arch of the foot, and with the usual and customary arch support designed for aidingthe inner longitudinal arch, said patient would have dimculty in finding a proper supporting device which gave a proper sense of balance and stability.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an important object of the present invention to provide an arch support designed to aid the-longitudinal as well as the metatarsal arches of the human foot, and at the same time provide better balance and stability to the user.

A further object of this invention is the provision of an arch support designed to apply proper pressure against substantially the entire plantar surface of the human foot, and aid in building up either the inner longitudinal arch, the outer longitudinal arch, metatarsal arch, or all of them and at the same time give better support to the outside of the os calcis and the cuboid bone so as to better balance the foot of the user. With such an arch support, if the user's foot is correct in every particular save any one of the above-mentioned defects, the support should cause no dis-- outside of the os calcis and the cuboid bone, the entire structure being further so arranged that none of the parts of the support will tend 'to gouge into a shoe or other article of apparel and yet relative movement between the parts to provide the-needed flexibility is definitely permitted.

While some of the more salient features, characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been above pointed out, others will become apparent from the following disclosures, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of an arch supporting structure embodying principles of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a central vertical sectional view through the support of Figure 1, taken substantially as indicated by the line lIII of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the structure seen in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of the covering portion of the arch support, with the other parts removed, showing a portion rolled back to illustrate'a member and the manner in which the member is positioned beneath the rolled back Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the structure of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the arch support as a, whole, taken substantially as indicated by the line VI-VI of Figure 1;

Figure 7 is also a transverse sectional view through the arch support as a whole, taken sub- Figure Figure 8 is a transverse vertical sectional view through the anterior portion of the. arch support taken substantially as indicated by the line VIII-VIII of Figure l: and

Figure 9 is a fragmentary sectional view, greatly exaggerated, of an individual element of the arch support.

As shown on the drawings:

In the illustrated embodiment of this invention there is shown an arch support including a flexible covering member I, which may be of leather or any other suitable material, and which is preferably provided with a smooth surface so as not to provide a drag upon or in any manner injure the hosiery of a user. This top covering member I is preferably of a single piece of mate- 1 rial and may be attached to the under structure in any suitable manner such as by rivets 2 and The under structure which is attached to the cover I by rivets 2 and 3 comprises a pair of spring plates 4 and 5 respectively. These spring plates are preferably metallic and the plate 4 is shaped to fit the plantar surface of a correctly formed foot, while the plate 5 is shaped to lend proper support to the plate 4. Obviously, both plates will be humped in the central region beneath the longitudinal arch of the foot, and in this instance the plates are shaped so as to provideaspace 6 (Figure 2) between the plates in this central region to give further flexibility to the support. It will be noted that the narrower and lower plate 5 extends beyond the upper plate 4 at both ends, the anterior portion of the plate 5 being turned at an angle as indicated at 'I in Figure 2 so as to permit a limited sliding movement without gouging.

The structures far described, including the plates 4 and 5 and the cover I, are preferably so shaped as to provide a heel seat which is slightly concave in character, an upwardly arched central portion to properly support the longitudinal arch of the foot, and a forward slightly arched portion to lend support to the face of .a foot, and will aid in restoring that plantar surface to its proper shape. However, if there is a weakness in the foot along the outer longitudinal arch in the vicinity of the cuboid bone, there will be a tendency to be off balance in connection with this support.

To this end, as an aid in insuring that the foot is properly balanced on its normal three-point bearings, it will be seen with reference to Figure 4 that the cover member I is slit along its outer side to the rearward end of the support as indicated at I I. In this slit portion between the two layers thus provided, a wedge-shaped cushioning element I2 is inserted and adhesively or otherwise held in position. This element I2 may be of any suitable material such as soft rubber, sponge rubber, or any other satisfactory cushioning medium. It will be noted that the wedgeshaped' cushioning member provides an added lift along the outside of the os calc'is and beneath the cuboid bone, so as to throw the foot inwardly against the higher portion of the rise I and thus provide better all-around balance. Obviously, if there is a weakness in the foot in the vicinity of the cuboid bone. that weakness also will be given aid by the arch support as a whole.

As this construction is seen in Figure 4, the wedge-shaped cushioning member I2 has a marginal portion I3 projecting beyond the edge of the cover member I. After the upper flap created by splitting the member I is laid down on top of the cushioning element II the margin II will be trimmedoi! flush with the edge of the cover I as seen in Figures 5, 6 and 7. As. seen thus in Figures 5 and 7, it will be noted that the cash-.- ioning or lift member I2 not only tapers inwardly towards the center of the arch support, but varies in thickness lengthwise of the member, the thickest portion occurring in the region of the outer side of the os calcis as indicated at I4 in Figure 5. The thickness and tapering of the lift member I2 may, of course, be changed or varied depending upon the treatment requirements for an individual case.

As seen best in Figure 4, the under margin of the cover I is skived along the inner side, across the anterior end, and slightly down the outer side, this skiving being designated by numeral I5. The skiving enables the arch support to seat better within an article of foot wear, and also provides a better binding surface for a guard piece I5 seen in Figures 2, 3 and 8. This guard piece has its upper surface complementarily sklved to the skiving I5 and may be adhesively secured along the skived margin to the cover I so as to provide in effect a pocket for the reception of the forward ends of th metallic plates 4 and 5. Thus, the plate 5, even though it has a sliding movement relatively to other portions of the structure, cannot cut or mar the insole of an article of foot wear. In order to provide a better surfacefor a sliding movement of the-forward end of the plate 5 as well as to give added support to the metatarsal arch of the foot, a relatively thin protecting element I1 is attached to the inside surface of the guard member I5 beneath the forward end of the plate 5. Th relative sliding action of the forward portion of the plate is therefore on top of this protecting element. The element Il may be made of any suitable material such as a plastic, 9, thin piece of metal, or material giving equivalent service. In Figure 9, a greatly xaggerated section of the element I1 is shown, and in this instance the element is illustrated as comprising a central portion I8 of a plastic containing a rather high rubber content with a fabric layer of the character of crinoline gauze on each side thereof as indicated at I 9 and 20 respectively. These fabric layers are preferably vulcanized to the central portion I8.

So that the entire arch support will have proper and adequate flexibility between the component parts thereof, the connecting elements are given a novel disposition. It will be seen that the cover I is attached to the under structure by means of rivets 2 and 3, and it will be noted that the rivet 3 extends through both plates 4 and 5 and the cover, while the .rivet 2 (Figure 8) extends only through the plate 4 and the cover. A third connecting rivet 2| seen in Figures 6 and 7 Joins only the two plates 4 and 5 at the rear portions thereof. Consequently, the cover I is not free to move relatively to the plate 4, but both the cover and the plate 4 may move relatively in the for-' ward portion of the support to the plate 5. The

plates 4 and 5 do not move relatively to each other at their rear portions, but the plate 5 is free to move relatively to the plate 4 as well as the guard element l6 and the protecting element I! at the anterior end of the device.

From the foregoing it is apparent that I have provided a, novel arch support especially adapted to properly support substantially the entire plantar surface of a human foot, to give better balance and stability to a foot resting upon the support, permit a relative sliding movement of a supporting portion of the support, and at the same time give an added lift to the metatarsal arch. It will further be noted that the entire device is constructed to provide great flexibility as well as adequate pressure at all necessary points, that it is extremely durable, and may be economically manufactured and used.

It will, of course, be understood that various details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention and it is, therefore, not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the ap pended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an arch support, a flexible cover, a pair of superposed arched spring plates attached together and to said cover, said plates being free from each other at their forward end; to permit relative movement therebetween, the cover and plates being shaped and disposed to provide a rise for the longitudinal arch, a heel seat, and a metatarsal arch supporting region, said cover being split along its outer and rear portion, a wedgeshaped cushioning lift inserted in said split, a guard member marginally attached to the underface of said cover at the forward end to provide a pocket for the reception of the forward ends of said plates, and a protecting element disposed between said guard member and the forward edge of the lower of said plates to permit sliding movement of said lower plate and give added support to the metatarsal arch. I

2. In an arch support, a flexible cover, a pair of superposed arched spring plates attached together and to said cover, said plates being free from each other at their forward ends to permit relative movement therebetween, the cover and plates being shaped and disposed to provide a rise for the longitudinal arch, a heel seat, and a metatarsal arch supporting region, said cover being split along its outer and rear portion, a wedge-shaped cushioning lift inserted in said split, a guard member marginally attached to the underface of said cover at the forward end to provide a pocket for the reception of the forward ends of said plates, and a protecting element disposed between said guard member and the forward edge of the lower of said plates to permit sliding movement of said lower plate and give added support to the metatarsal arch, said plates being connected together and to said cover at the rear portions of the plates, and the upper of said plates being connected to said cover at the forward portion of the plate.

3. In an arch support, a flexible cover, spring supporting means beneath said cover, guard means forming a pocket for the forward end of said spring means, protecting means in said pocket beneath said spring means to provide both a slipping surface and an added lift for the metatarsal arch, and a cushion lift at the outer and rear part of said cover adjacent the outer side of the os calcis and the cuboid bone.

WILLIAM M. SCHOLL. 

